Week 1 AP Top 25 most overrated, underrated and biggest surprise in the Big Ten

Week 1 AP Top 25 Most Underrated: Nebraska Cornhuskers

This might surprise some people, but I am heading into the 2024 campaign with high expectations for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Do you want to see a program that is a sleeping giant? Look no further than Lincoln, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are a program that just needed some leadership and a solid quarterback, and I think they now have both of those key elements.

Nebraska hasn’t made a bowl game since 2016. That is seven straight years of five wins or fewer, a streak no one thought was possible.

The 2024 Nebraska team is going to likely turn things around, though. While Matt Rhule didn’t succeed in the NFL, I think he is a great college coach. Baylor was a dumpster fire that had a ton of bad things happening around it when Rhule took over in 2017. In three short years, they won 11 games and went to the Sugar Bowl.

Last season, Nebraska had the most wins the program has had in a single season in the past seven years. That was year one under Rhule, and he didn’t have a quarterback. Rhule, along with some great NIL money, was able to land Dylan Raiola, the No. 7 player in the class of 2024 and the No. 2 quarterback in the country.

With Raiola in tow, look for Nebraska to be a pretty good team in 2024. I not only expect Nebraska to get back to a bowl game for the first time since 2016, but I think they can get close and maybe even reach the 10-win mark, which hasn’t happened since 2012. Only getting 16 votes to be in the AP Top 25 means they are massively underrated in my eyes.